Mother, daughter bring peace message to Capitol

05/11/2006

By Dave Williams
Staff Writer
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ATLANTA - The way Elizabeth McLeod figures it from her research, it takes the average mother 8.25 years of work to raise a child to the age of 18.

That's why a mother suffers most when her child is killed in battle, the 13-year-old middle-school student from Snellville said Wednesday during a peace rally outside the state Capitol.

"Multiply that by thousands,'' she said, reading from an essay she wrote that appeared in the recent book "If Women Ruled the World.''

"Millions of years of women's labor are destroyed in one war.''

McLeod, who attends Alton C. Crews Middle School, and her mother, syndicated newspaper columnist Lisa Earle McLeod, highlighted the rally, timed to coincide with Mother's Day.

Speakers representing various peace advocacy groups and a diverse mix of religious faiths called on Congress to pass legislation introduced last year that would create a federal Department of Peace to look for ways to resolve international conflicts without war and address domestic violence in America.

After the speeches, the two dozen activists walked across the street to Atlanta City Hall to distribute "peace pies'' to city employees. The Atlanta City Council overwhelmingly passed a resolution last week endorsing the federal legislation.

Supporters of the measure, which has been introduced into both the House and Senate, say a Department of Peace could be operated with only 2 percent of the money that goes annually into the Pentagon's budget.

"All we want for peace is the littlest, skinniest slice of this pie,'' said the elder McLeod, gesturing to a stack of peace pies in front of her. "I don't think it's too much to ask.''

Other speakers said an organized campaign for peace is particularly important now, with the U.S. mired in a war in Iraq and the possibility of more armed conflict with Iran.

Rabbi Joshua Lesser of Congregation Bet Haverim in Atlanta, noting the small size of Wednesday's rally, said the constant bombardment of images of war in the news media has made many Americans believe that it's foolish to stand up for peace.

"If we have to continue this message in small groups until it starts to grow, so be it,'' he said.